Trump representative Kari Lake on Voice of America's fate: 'Scrap the whole thing and start over'

The Trump administration's choice to oversee government-run news outlets like Voice of America told a congressional committee on Wednesday that “it's best to just scrap the whole thing and start over.”

Kari Lake, the former Arizona newscaster turned Republican politician, testified that the U.S. Agency for Global Media is “rotten to the core” and that any salvageable parts should be put under the control of the U.S. State Department.

Lake appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee days after layoff notices were sent to hundreds of employees at the agency and Voice of America, cutting its staff by 85%. With politicians speaking over and around each other, the hearing amounted to a debate on what role journalism should have in spreading American influence abroad.

Lake said she is following President Donald Trump's directive to cut the dozens of outlets to the core, with most already shut down or sharply curtailed. She characterized many broadcasts as anti-American or promoting liberal bias, pointing to efforts by Chinese government representatives in the U.S. to influence Mandarin-language content on Radio Free Asia.

The agency is investigating threatening phone calls to a member of Congress from inside Voice of America, Lake said, hinting — but not saying outright — that the target was a Republican.

Trump backed her up via a Truth Social post on Wednesday: “Why would a Republican want Democrat ‘mouthpiece’ Voice of America (VOA) to continue? It's a TOTAL, LEFTWING DISASTER — No Republican should vote for its survival. KILL IT!”

A congressionally-mandated firewall “makes it impossible for agency management to prevent biased, anti-American or rogue reporting,” Lake said. The “firewall” she refers to has been in place since 1994, prohibiting any interference by a U.S. government official in the independent reporting of news.

Separate from the hearing, VOA director Mike Abramowitz, who is out on administrative leave, said he's aware of no rogue journalists spreading misinformation. Reporters who make mistakes are corrected, he said, and those who violate standards are disciplined.

Since Voice of America's inception in World War II, the outlets have operated under the theory that objective news reports delivered to citizens whose own governments resist such freedoms is a “soft power” way to promote the nation's interests.

“I feel like I am suffering through a propaganda war through your testimony,” said U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, a Pennsylvania Democrat. “For those of you who think this is about reform, it's not. It's about shutting down media.”

Abramowitz, in a note sent to colleagues on Wednesday, said he was “saddened and angered” that the motives and patriotism of VOA employees were questioned in the hearing..

Democrats pointed to reports about Russia and China stepping up their own media efforts to fill the void left by stilled American voices. “Reliable news is no longer accessible for millions of people around the world,” said U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo, a Rhode Island Democrat. “If our adversaries are cheering this decision, why would we do that?”

Employees at Voice of America's Persian-language branch that broadcasts in Iran, were hurriedly called back into work at the outset of the Israel-Iran war, only for most of them to be laid off less than a week later.

Democrats characterized that as a missed opportunity to speak to Iranian citizens at a time when their government was weak. But Lake said a few employees were able to translate Trump's speech announcing the U.S. bombing on Saturday into Farsi for the radio outlet.

“We don't need to have massive newsrooms,” Lake said. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican, said that “a lot of journalists are freelance. That's something we should look into.”

Some Democrats personally attacked Lake as unreliable, particularly a fellow Arizona resident, Rep. Greg Stanton, who pointed to false statements Lake had made about her own failed bids to get elected as governor and senator of that state.

“The American people cannot believe a word you say,” Stanton said. Lake said Stanton was spouting “complete insanity.” “I wish I could yield back the last five minutes of my life,” she said.

Meanwhile, several Republicans saluted Lake for trying to reform the agencies.

The outlets' futures remain uncertain. There are a handful of court cases aimed at restoring funding and ordering a resumption of services. But the longer many remain off the air, the easier it is for followers to get into new habits of consuming news.

This story has been corrected to note that it was employees of Voice of America's Persian-language division who were called back into work after start of Israel-Iran war.

David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

FILE - The Voice of America building is pictured in Washington, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Over two dozen families from one of the few remaining Palestinian Bedouin villages in the central West Bank have packed up and fled their homes in recent days, saying harassment by Jewish settlers living in unauthorized outposts nearby has grown unbearable.

The village, Ras Ein el-Auja, was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.

Twenty-six families already left on Thursday, scattering across the territory in search of safer ground, say rights groups. Several other families were packing up and leaving on Sunday.

“We have been suffering greatly from the settlers. Every day, they come on foot, or on tractors, or on horseback with their sheep into our homes. They enter people’s homes daily,” said Nayef Zayed, a resident, as neighbors took down sheep pens and tin structures.

Israel's military and the local settler governing body in the area did not respond to requests for comment.

Other residents pledged to stay put for the time being. That makes them some of the last Palestinians left in the area, said Sarit Michaeli, international director at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group helping the residents.

She said that mounting settler violence has already emptied neighboring Palestinian hamlets in the dusty corridor of land stretching from Ramallah in the West to Jericho, along the Jordanian border, in the east.

The area is part of the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under full Israeli control under interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, over 2,000 Palestinians — at least 44 entire communities — have been expelled by settler violence in the area, B'Tselem says.

The turning point for the village came in December, when settlers put up an outpost about 50 meters (yards) from Palestinian homes on the northwestern flank of the village, said Michaeli and Sam Stein, an activist who has been living in the village for a month.

Settlers strolled easily through the village at night. Sheep and laundry went missing. International activists had to begin escorting children to school to keep them safe.

“The settlers attack us day and night, they have displaced us, they harass us in every way” said Eyad Isaac, another resident. “They intimidate the children and women.”

Michaeli said she’s witnessed settlers walk around the village at night, going into homes to film women and children and tampering with the village’s electricity.

The residents said they call the police frequently to ask for help — but it seldom arrives. Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has placed settler leaders in senior positions, has made it a top priority.

That growth has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence, much of it carried out by residents of unauthorized outposts. These outposts often begin with small farms or shepherding that are used to seize land, say Palestinians and anti-settlement activists. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching Israeli presence in the area.

Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Their presence is viewed by most of the international community as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.

For now, displaced families of the village have dispersed between other villages near the city of Jericho and near Hebron further south, said residents. Some sold their sheep and are trying to move into the cities.

Others are just dismantling their structures without knowing where to go.

"Where will we go? There’s nowhere. We’re scattered,” said Zayed, the resident, “People’s situation is bad. Very bad.”

An Israeli settler herds his flock near his outpost beside the Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian children play in the West Bank village of Ras Ein al-Auja, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)